


Medium Popcorn

by this_is_too_fyuckking_much



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Biphobia, Flirting, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Keith centric, M/M, Movie Cinema, Popcorn, Swearing, They're at the movies, but it doesn't take place in a high school, i guess, slight biphobia, they're in high school
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-04
Updated: 2018-07-04
Packaged: 2019-06-05 04:54:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15163112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/this_is_too_fyuckking_much/pseuds/this_is_too_fyuckking_much
Summary: Keith would have never thought that he’d actually be able to stand his job____________________________________________In which Keith realises that he doesn't actually loathe his job and he's chatted up at the popcorn counter





	Medium Popcorn

**Author's Note:**

> This is actually my first klance fic, so pls bear with me.
> 
> I have never set foot in America so I had to google stuff about your pricing and customs of going to the cinema. I also had to google if you guys call it 'soda' so you can see I'm not the most educated person in this respect.
> 
> Hopefully, I haven't made a fool out of myself, and I hope u enjoy. :)
> 
> (P.S. if y'all find anything wrong with this fic just comment about it and I'll try and fix it, like spelling but also if I should tag something or whatever you find off/odd)

Keith would have never thought that he’d actually be able to stand his job. After Shiro had dragged him to any establishment with a ‘help wanted’ poster, they’d managed to get him a part-time job at the local theatre to sell food. Originally, Keith had absolutely fucking hated it. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that he used to be working whilst school was on, so it wasn’t like a summer job to earn a little more cash and get ‘life skills’, he was working to actually make rent. Keith had always tried to persuade Shiro that they were fine with Shiro’s current employment at his buddy, Kuro’s, gym. But after a while, even he had to admit it was getting ridiculous. Especially when they started buying a pre-made chicken and making it last a month. So, Keith had to step up and do his part. Another reason why Keith hated it was that on his first day, he suddenly realised that this new job meant that he had to meet his co-workers and possibly interact with people during this process of being a popcorn-maker. It wasn’t that Keith was _anti_ social, it’s just that he preferred his time to himself and he actively avoided social interaction because it made him feel like he was about to throw up. 

Luckily, after about 4 months, by the time summer break rolled around he’d gotten a bit more chummy with the other people who were also working during his shifts. On weekends, two other kids from his school had their shifts just to get more experience (or something), Pidge and Hunk. 

Keith had met Pidge first when he’d fully spilt a large orange Fanta all over them on the first day. To tell you the truth, Keith hadn’t even seen them, they’re so short. Pidge seemed to be alright with it though because they’d realised it was Keith’s first day. Keith can remember how fucking mortified he was and he was already so riled up from nerves and how overwhelmed he’d felt afterwards when Pidge said he wasn’t in trouble. He did need to buy Pidge an iced coffee afterwards once they’d been let off for a break. That was when he’d met Hunk. 

Hunk was taller and bigger than Keith, which was slightly stressful when he sat down at the table he and Pidge were at. Keith was expecting him to start some shit, but Hunk just inquired as to why Pidge had made the poor boy buy them a drink. Hunk is easily one of the sweetest people Keith has ever met and he’s sad that Hunk actually doesn’t work at the food counter but he helps to carry in shipments. 

So it had taken him a while, but he’s started to not dread coming to work. Part of him tries to justify it as the fact that he’s happy he doesn’t have to sit alone at home during the summer whilst Shiro works, but the less reclusive part of himself is sure it’s because he enjoys hanging around his new.. friends? Yeah, friends. Of course, he does get annoyed if he burns the popcorn or if some customer's being a fucking dick but all in all, it’s not the worst situation he can be in.

It was on this day, in which Keith makes this revelation that he actually likes working at the theatre, it was on this day that he also has perhaps one of the most memorable interactions that he’d ever have. 

He’s been assigned to work the register today and business was rather slow, not many new movies were showing and there were only a few screenings anyway. A group of boys came by to get their shit for the movie and Keith served them. He recognised a few that he passed in the halls at school that year so he assumes that they’re all from Garrison High like he is. They head over to the small counter to get their straws and whatnot when another boy runs up to the counter. One of the boys in the other group yells out to him,

“You were taking too long Lance!” The boy, Lance, stops just before the counter.

“I swear you’re exaggerating Ryan, I took like 3 minutes, tops.” Ryan doesn’t seem to be listening so Lance walks the rest of the way to the counter. He’s got a gleam in his eye that causes Keith to narrow his own. 

“Hello, what can I get you?” Keith recites,

“You could get me a lot of things, babe.” Lance says, Keith freezes with his finger on the touchscreen pad in front of him. He glances at Lance to see the boy partially leaning on the counter, his eyes focused on Keith. He thinks he remembers Lance from school, probably one of those boys he’d seen and thought ‘cute, but probably an asshole’ and then forgot about. 

“What?” He says, like an idiot. Lance doesn’t falter though,

“What I’d like to get, is to get to know you better.” He winks, causing heat to rush to Keith’s cheeks. Totally out of his control, Keith might add. Of course, the small smile breaking out on his face was also completely out of his control as he looked down at the counter to steel himself.

“Sir, would you like popcorn, soda, or anything else we can provide?” Keith is trying ever-so-hard to keep everything professional, he doesn’t know if he’s allowed to be flirting with any of the customers. Also, it’s not every day that he gets approached by a hot boy who seems interested. Nothing in his life has ever prepared him for this.

“Please, none of this ‘sir’ business, my name’s Lance.” Keith raised an eyebrow but felt his lips curling into a smile, Lance could obviously tell because he then gained enough confidence to fit his chin on his hand.

“Alright then, Lance, what would you like?” Lance smirks,

“A medium popcorn.” Keith huffs, slightly comically.

“What kind?” 

“I’ll have salty, it’s sweet enough talking to you.” That gets a smile out of Keith and he tries to hide it with a cough, covering his mouth. He types out the order on his screen,

“Would you like a drink, s- Lance?” Keith says, also not sure whether he’s allowed to call a customer anything but ‘ma’am’ and ‘sir’. But Lance is smiling so he guesses it’s not that big of a deal.

“I’ll just have a water, thanks.” He murmurs, trying to get Keith to hold eye contact. It’s not for a very long time as Keith puts the rest of his order in and gets the computer to calculate the total.

“That’ll be $9.50.” Keith turns just in time to see Lance reluctantly break out of gazing at him to take out his own wallet, giving Keith 10 dollars. Keith returns the change and heads to the fridge to get some bottled water, he places it on the counter before heading for the popcorn machine and scooping some into a medium container. Once he’s finished he brings it back over to Lance, who speaks up before Keith can give the items to him.

“Would it be alright if.. you know, after your shift or whatever, I can take you to a movie of our own?” Keith’s eyes widen slightly, his heart rate gets ever-so-slightly faster, and he’s pretty sure without his self-control he would have dropped the bucket of popcorn he was holding. But today happened to be the worst day for Lance to have asked for this because he’d have to rush home to let Shiro in because they’d lost one of the keys. Keith smiles sadly and shakes his head,

“Sorry… I-“ He tries to start but Lance puts a hand up.

“No no, it’s fine.” Lance keeps his bravado up as he assures Keith, “You win some, you lose some.” He smiles still. As some sort of last attempt to make Keith lose his mind, Lance gingerly takes hold of Keith’s hand. And when it’s not pulled away, he murmurs,

“Have a good day?” Keith can only nod slightly, mimicking Lance’s smile to his best ability as he tries to figure out what the fuck just happened. _Speak! You fucking idiot!_ Keith’s sane side is yelling at him as Lance takes his drink and popcorn and walks away. _He thinks you’re not into him just get his number or something!_ But Lance has already been welcomed by his group of friends and Keith has a feeling that the minute he tries to approach Lance now, he’ll make a fool out of himself. 

He missed his chance.

Pidge and Hunk aren’t there today so Keith’s got no one to mope to during his break about the cute boy he missed out on. And, of course, how awkward things are going to be when school starts again. _Well we didn’t really talk anyway, I don’t think it’ll be that weird_ Keith tries to justify. He gets a small snack at the bubble tea shop near the cinema’s exit and wallows in self-pity when he hears the sounds of the rowdy boys again. Almost spinning on the spot, he sees them coming out of their movie. He jumps behind the door to the shop and sips on his drink, keeping an eye out. He tries not to think of how weird it is to be spying, but it isn’t really spying until he can actually hear what they’re saying. They’re just approaching the bins to put their empty buckets in when Keith distinctly hears,

“..And Lance trying to seduce the popcorn guy was so fucking funny.” The whole group seems to crack up at that, Lance rushes to defend himself.

“C’mon guys, I was spitting game! I’m telling you….” His friends snort, one of them asks,

“Oh yeah, did you get his number?” Lance falters slightly,

“No, I asked him out after his shift. He said no.” Lance’s friends seem to find that hilarious and it’s hard to hear Lance over the laughing. “Guys, I swear he was into it! Didn’t you-?” 

“Lance, Lance..” Someone quietens everyone down, Keith takes a breath and turns to see them a little ways away, someone’s putting their hand on Lance’s shoulder.  
“Take my advice,” He says, “just stick to girls.” Keith’s breath catches in his throat at Lance’s confused look.

“Yeah bro,” Another boy says, “this whole ‘bi’ thing isn’t working out for you is it?” They start laughing again and try to ruffle Lance’s hair but Lance is just staring at him. They give each other looks before heading off, discussing their plans to head to the arcade or something. Lance stays standing near the bins. Keith has no idea what he’s doing but he feels his feet bringing him forwards. Lance tossed his stuff away and is about to follow his ‘friends’ when Keith catches up and lays a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

“Hey!” He says loudly, causing Lance to jump, “Sorry! Sorry um…” Keith really didn’t know where to go from this but he seems to be rambling.

“I was just in the _Gong Cha_ here and I overheard you and your friends and can I just say that your friends are fucking dicks.” He lets out in one breath. Lance seems a bit frozen but lets out a:

“What?” Keith stammers,

“Well, they said that you should, like, ‘stick to girls’ or whatever and… I don’t know, it sounded to me like they weren’t taking you seriously. Or, you know, weren’t taking your sexuality seriously. As if it were just some joke or something you chose to try out or I don’t know…” He trailed off, losing his confidence the longer he engaged in the (one-sided) conversation. He avoided Lance’s eyes as he looked down at the cup in his hands, ready to spin on his heel and walk away in shame but then..

“Thanks,” Lance murmured quietly. Keith’s head snaps back up and Lance is looking rubbing the back of his neck shyly. 

“They are… huge fucking assholes sometimes. I usually put up with it, as you can see, I’m not very good at standing up for myself.” Keith scoffs,

“You sound like me.” Lance chuckles as well,

“Well, I see you in school. I don’t think anyone’d even try to cross you, you probably never had to tell your friends they’re being dicks.” 

“Well I didn’t have friends, did I?” Keith fires back, Lance raises an eyebrow.

“This is getting dark man.” 

“It started dark.” Keith reasoned and Lance seemed to take that as an answer.

“But seriously, I don’t think hanging around with them is doing you any good.” Keith concludes. Lance nods,

“I’ll try, I guess.” He mumbles. Keith bites his bottom lip slightly,

“I can’t really catch a movie with you today ‘cause I gotta get home to let my brother into the apartment but…” Lance’s eyebrows raise and a smile grows on his face, egging Keith on.

“I mean, if we could, like, exchange numbers, I guess we could arrange another day?” Lance’s smile grows until he’s beaming,

“Yeah! Yeah, sure.” He reaches into his pocket and gets his phone out, exchanging it with Keith’s when it’s offered to him. They type their phones in and before Keith gives the phone back, he says,

“Also, I might prefer it if it wasn’t a movie date. You can only be in cinemas so much before they give you bad memories.” Lance laughs, and honestly, Keith would never want anything more than to hear that again. Lance glances behind him, seeing his ‘friends’ have already gone.

“I won’t catch up with them today, I’m just gonna go home.” Keith nods, shuffling back slightly.

“I’ll text you.” He says, Lance smiles.

“Not if I text you first!” Then turns to walk away. Keith does the same and is glancing back ever so often, sometimes catching Lance looking at him as well. Eventually, he turns a corner and Keith is left by himself. But not in a bad way. Because Lance might be the most amazing person Keith has ever met and it’s not the last they’ll see of each other. Keith has around 10 seconds of absolute bliss before he comprehends the fact that his break is ending at that very moment and he’s got to get to the front of the theatre. He can swoon later.


End file.
